


nine years

by rekal



Category: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Genre: Fluff, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Sharing a Bed, their relationship is a nine year slow burn and you can't convince me otherwise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 12:20:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20025715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rekal/pseuds/rekal
Summary: A decade and a half later, Rick Dalton stood face to face with the most beautiful man he'd seen in Hollywood yet.He wasn't even an actor."My name's Cliff Booth, nice to meet you."





	nine years

Once upon a time in central Missouri, a young Rick Dalton sat at his kitchen table and clutched his mother's arm.

His father paced around the living room, spluttering with rage, putting the fear of god into every member of the household as he screamed, "I should've known!"  
Earlier that day, the town police had stormed into their neighbor's house and arrested the residents- the local grocer and his apparent boyfriend. Word spread fast, to say the least.  
"I should've known they was a pair of cocksuckin' queers!"  
Rick's mother shook her head disapprovingly and turned her son to face her.  
"Do you know what it means to be queer?"

\---

Eight years later, a fifteen year old Rick Dalton kneeled next to his bed and read line after line of Shakespeare, not bothering to make sure he understood.  
It was all he could do not to break down and cry, the stream of verses keeping his mind off of things like Tommy Banks, and how bad it hurt to see him kiss Marie Stevens, and what the hurt meant, and how he was one of those dirty queers, wasn't he.  
_Why, god? Why me?, _Rick thought.

\---

A decade and a half later, Rick Dalton stood face to face with the most beautiful man he'd seen in Hollywood yet.  
He wasn't even an actor.  
"My name's Cliff Booth, nice to meet you,"  
Rick hadn't heard an authentic southern accent in a while- he smiled at the familiarity of it.  
"I'm working as your stuntman from here on out."  
Rick spoke without realizing it.  
"You? A stuntman?"  
Cliff, surprisingly, gave a small confused grin.  
"Yeah?"  
"Sorry, sorry, I just- You're so-"  
Rick took a breath.  
"You look like more, uh, of an actor than a stuntman."  
"I'll take that as a compliment."  
Cliff chuckled and stuck out his hand.  
Rick shook it, feeling warmer than he had in a long time.

\---

Cliff stared up at the ceiling of his trailer, cigarette on his lip.  
The tenth or eleventh man he'd found and brought back to his place lay next to him, fast asleep.  
What was his name? Cliff thought.  
John? Jake?  
Whatever.  
It had been nine long years of short flings with brown haired men with kind eyes and southern accents that weren't Rick, no matter how much Cliff wanted them to be, and no matter how tired he got or how deep he felt that ache, Cliff couldn't leave.  
Rick was his best friend, he was all he had.  
He'd do anything for him, and he had the scars to prove it.

\---

Cliff knew Rick could've married Francesca.  
Cliff knew that if Rick ever married, he'd be out of the picture.  
It's late, and they're both hammered, laying on the soft floor of the Italian apartment and giggling about that last director and his shitty fashion sense.  
After a while, Cliff sits up and cracks another beer.  
"Why'd you dump Francesca?"  
Rick sits up next to him. Cliff can feel Rick's breath on his neck when he leans in to whisper, giggling,  
"Who needs a wife when they've got a stuntman?"  
And for the first time in close to a decade, Cliff felt hope.

\---

When Cliff was finally discharged from the hospital, still hobbling around in crutches, Rick was there to collect him.  
Rick seemed as worried as usual, questioning him about his pain medication and how long the doctor said it would take him to fully heal and whether or not he needed a place to stay.  
Cliff assured him that everything was gonna be fine from here on out, and he could take care of himself.  
Rick didn't seem convinced.  
And sure enough, Rick pulled up to his own home as opposed to Cliff's trailer.  
"Look, man, you don't have to worry about me," Cliff started.  
Rick met his eyes, expression serious.  
"I do."  
"Yeah, I know that, but-"  
"I worry about you all the time. And I'm not gonna let myself worry even more about you falling over and hurting yourself more or tearing your stitches or anything else without having someone else around to help you take care of it."  
Cliff sat silently for a moment before opening up the car door and maneuvering his crutches outside.  
"Sounds like you've got your mind made up."  
"You're damn right I do."  
Rick helped pull Cliff upright and kept his pace as they went inside, standing close enough for Cliff's heart, already beating fast from the pain, to speed up a little more.

\---

Figuring out the sleeping logistics that evening wasn't easy- Rick was willing to give Cliff his bed, with its expensive mattress that would go easy on his injury.  
He wasn't, however, willing to sleep all the way across the house in the guest bedroom.  
"What if you fall in the middle of the night?"  
"I won't."  
"What if you sleepwalk and hurt yourself?"  
"I don't sleepwalk."  
"That's a lie. Remember Barcelona?"  
"Oh, yeah. I guess I do sleepwalk."  
"Anyways, I can't risk hurting yourself, so I suppose we can just share this bed."  
"Sounds good."  
Rick's breath hitched.  
Cliff moved, seemingly unbothered, into his bedroom and began working his way into bed.  
Rick shook out a cigarette and watched his best friend set his bottle of pain meds on the side table.  
He sighed and put the cigarette back, heading into the bedroom and slowly laying himself down on the comfortable mattress.  
He hadn't thought about how difficult this would be for him.  
He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of Cliff's breathing, hoping he wouldn't mess this up.

\---

The sky was still dark when Cliff woke up, his injured side stiff and aching and his uninjured side warm with the draped weight of another body. He reached for the pain medication he had left on the side table and was pleased to find a glass of water waiting for him.  
Rick must've left it, he thought, before the thought hit him.  
That weight against his side was Rick.

Rick fucking Dalton. He sat up slightly and downed his medication, allowing himself time for his eyes to adjust to the dark.

Rick's face lay, sleeping, inches away from Cliff's own head.  
"Christ," Cliff said softly.  
Rick was beautiful. And warm. And right there.  
Cliff felt he might just lose his mind.  
He shifted closer and tried, desperately, to fall asleep.

\---

When Rick woke up, it was morning. Sunlight streamed through the window across the room and hit Cliff's face- so close he could feel the man's sleeping breaths in his hair.  
Rick's legs tangled with Cliff's, and Cliff's arm had worked its way around Rick's shoulders.  
Rick reached out automatically, running a hand through Cliff's hair and closing his eyes, relishing and preserving the moment in his memory. When he opened his eyes again, Cliff's eyes looked back, open ever so slightly, and a small smile graced his lips.  
Rick smiled, and Cliff shut his eyes again, mumbling,  
"Nice dream."  
Rick's heart was going haywire. He barely felt himself pushing forwards, but before he knew it, his lips were on Cliff's and strong hands were gently cupping his face.

He pulled away and tried to process what he had just done, thinking about the possible consequences and bracing himself.  
"Rick Dalton," Cliff said, voice sleepy.

Rick took a shaky breath,  
"Cliff Booth?"  
"I waited nine years, you know?"  
Rick let out his nervous energy with a small laugh and kissed Cliff again before laying his head against his chest.  
"Me too."

Once upon a time in Hollywood, Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth shared a life together.

**Author's Note:**

> This is bad. This movie is excellent. Someone else please write something for them they deserve it


End file.
